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Sticker of Turquoise blue
Bug card No. 4465 of 4,939

Turquoise blue

Polyommatus dorylas
Eats: Nectar and pollenButterfliesGardens and meadows6 legs

The turquoise blue is a small butterfly. The male's wings are a dazzling, shiny bright blue, which gives it its name. The female is black-brown, sometimes with reddish spots on the edges.

Lives in
Southern Europe, Turkey, the Caucasus and the Ural Mountains, in flowery rocky meadows
Wingspan
1.5 to 1.7 cm (0.59 to 0.67 in)
Top speed
about 8 km/h (5 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Like other butterflies, the adult drinks nectar. Its caterpillars eat kidney vetch.
For real!Photo of Turquoise blue
Picture by Charles J. Sharp. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Turquoise blue wings about 1.7 cm tip to tip (0.67 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
could fly across a whole football pitch in 47 seconds

How big is Turquoise blue compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It flies in two generations, from May to September.

2

It lives in flowery meadows in rocky places, 500 to 2000 metres high.

3

It likes limestone and sandy soil.

4

Some females have bright metallic blue spots that glitter even when they fly.

you asked

Most asked questions about Turquoise blue

?Why is it called the turquoise blue?

The male's wings are a dazzling bright blue.

?What does the turquoise blue caterpillar eat?

It eats kidney vetch.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Polyommatus dorylas
Group
Butterflies
Family
Lycaenidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Lycaenidae
Lives on
Europe, Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Polyommatus dorylas (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Charles J. Sharp. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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